Computer Love: Technophilia in the Real World

Origins/Evolution

In retrospect, the rise of technophilia seems almost inevitable. Machines have always been our helpers, our assistants, and increasingly our crutches. Most people treat machines with a certain amount of reverence, for they generally represent an increse in productivity, or the ability to acomplish something entirely new. In such an environment, how can we not become increasingly attached to technology?

Over the last century we have devoted more and more time and resources to the creation and maintenance of machines, and they have come to play an increasingly large role in our lives. Using machines, particularly computers, has become more and more luxuries, and less and less necessities. We don't need to use computers for word processing, not in the sense that we need a forklift to lift ten tons of steel -- it's just more convenient. And we enjoy anything that makes things more convenient. And thus we are more likely to use computers for longer amounts of time, more likely to come to rely on them for the shortcuts they provide.

It is from this environment that technophilia has evolved into its modern form.


  authored by mip@netspace.org